Inferno in Space
Summary It's back to Herculon again, as Agar (this time played by Charles Davis), escapes from his exile on Earth and pretends to be an earth scientist in search of a lab. On Herculon, he is given every consideration and is able to hatch his plan to destroy Rocky Jones! But he hooks up with another power hungry individual and seals his own doom! Chapter I Rocky Jones and Biff Cardoza aboard the Silver Moon discuss that this is Biff's sixth patrol with the Space Rangers. All has been uneventful, and Rocky fills his time by checking with the ship's navigator, Vena Ray. Vena has finished her navigation report, but Rocky cannot find it hanging on the wall. Vena believes someone either wants her job or is pulling her leg! Could it be sabotage? Or gremlins perhaps? All they find is desintigrated paper dust lying on the floor. Vena heads for the copy she made - but it too has turned to dust! Something is VERY wrong! Indeed! Biff calls from the cockpit that the Visomia and the Ion Trap are out of order! The very controls are coming loose! Rocky orders the ship turned around, and they exit the area and head for Earth where they hope to make contact and have a ground assisted landing! On Earth, Secretary Drake, Professor Mayberry, and Bobby nervously await the ground controled approach of the Silver Moon. Ranger Marshall enters and makes the announcement that Rocky's ship is approaching safely. Vena and Mayberry spend three sleepless nights in the lab testing the Silver Moon (or so they claim!). At three in the morning, they call a meeting - there is no time to lose! Mayberry announces that a mass of uncontroled energy - simular to nuclear energy, but not powerful enough to affect crew, metals, or other materials - just wood! The source is believed to be some kind of explosion. The answer to this mystery is in space - but all flights have been suspended for safety reasons. The source is eruptions from a moon - possibly Circo. Disasters in space must be kept from the general public, and Secretary Drake has had a media blackout on this topic until further notice! Preperations are made for an exploratory flight. All wood is removed from the ship, and a reflective radiation coating has been painted onto the Silver Moon to act like armor. Vena and Biff heartilly volunteer to be part of Rocky's crew, but this time, Bobby must remain on Earth. Bobby tries to convince Biff that he has a purpose on Earth that is too important for him to go along on the mission. And Rocky insists Bobby take a celestial navigation refresher while he awaits their return to keep him busy. Mayberry wonders where man gets his courage to stand up to the elements as they take off for the deadly unknown. With newly designed devices, Mayberry measures and evaluates the disturbances like a scientiffic blood hound! Meanwhile, on Earth, Agar, the ex-ruler of Medina who has been exiled and given a temperary home on Earth - quietly infiltrates Space Affairs Headquarters (in his Medinan uniform, no less!) and learns the truth of what is going on! His recent escape from where he was staying on Earth has raised an international alert! Dorton - an Earth civilian - acts as Agar's assistant and confidont. Agar wants revenge against Rocky Jones for his hand in getting Agar kicked off his homeworld! Agar never forgets a friend - or a foe! Rocky pilots the Silver Moon into the harsh energy trying to find the source. Mayberry's syntelrometer reacts to the disturbence of 50 million radkins of radiation! The gaseous haze in space looks like ground fog, but is extremely radioactive - thermonuclear radiation simular to a hydrogen explosion! The moon Circo is erupting huge amounts of radiation - a virtual energy avalanche! Distance means nothing to this uncontroled energy hurled out into space! This is a disaster worse than total destruction because some would live through it! Only Earth's moon is currently protecting Earth from the harsh full effects of the radiation! But it will soon move out of the way, and compete destruction is immenent! (Apparently the moon moves much slower in the future than it does today...) Mayberry vows to seach without ceasing for an answer! Can Rocky Jones and his crew protect Earth? Stay tuned and find out! Chapter II Rocky lands the XV3 on Earth after collecting data from the exploding Circo moon. Professor Mayberry is eager to get to the meeting, and swears everyone to secrecy! Once Earth's moon moves out of shield range, the deadly Circo rays will disintigrate ALL wood on Earth! Mayberry's plan is to create giant mirrors to reflect the deadly rays back to Circo! "That's a lot of mirrors!" Secretary Drake gasps. Rocky suggests all nonessential factories be converted over to mirror production. But that would mean telling the people of Earth the truth! Drake agrees. And Mayberry goes off to reflect on his mirror plans. Drake then talks to Rocky about Agar's escape. Agar is one man Rocky hates to see on the loose, but there is little they can do. Agar has secretly greyed his hair and added a beard to disguise his looks. He even went onto the Office Of Space Affairs base and no one recognized him! (You would have thought the big Midinan uniform would have been a dead giveaway...) Agar now wants a ship, and demands Dorton get him one! Dorton considers the plan risky, but has little choice - and Agar promises to take him along! At Professor Mayberry's observatory and lab, Bobby tests out a sample reflector mirror. He will be a deputy in charge of training a group of boys (presumably Junior Rangers such as himself) to reflect Circo's energy force back! Larger mirrors are in production for the counter attack on Circo, and training is being done to be ready for C-day (Circo day)! At dawn, Agar and Dorton steal the MX7, leaving while another ship was launching, using their blast off syncronizer for their own ship's iginition! The newly overhauled Silver Moon is ready, and Secretary Drake sends Rocky to go after Agar. On the MX7, Agar and Dorton realize they have stollen a ship that has the cold light cloaking device! But feathers get ruffled, and Agar ends up calling Dorton a coward and a traitor for helping him, and comments on how he didn't have to talk much to get Dorton to help him! Rocky and Biff close in the XV3! Agar and Dorton can hear their astrophone call. Dorton tries to turn Agar in, but Agar knocks him out with some awesome wrestling moves! Agar wastes no time in dressing Dorton in a space suit and sets him adrift - but not before turning on the cold light device! But Biff is able to detect the invisible ship, and then finds the weightless floating body of Dorton! Rocky stops to rescue Dorton. He calms Dorton and then goes after Agar! He tells Agar that Dortan talked plenty! They are just about to fire on Agar, when Secretary Drake calls the XV3 back to Earth! (Too bad Rocky didn't just fire a missile before he turned around...) On Earth, Professor Mayberry says Circo will continue to throw off energy, and then explode! Mayberry plans to send magnetic elements over the surface of Circo to help control the break up of the planet, and help reflect the radiation back to that moon. It will be released in a powder and sprayed over the Circo's surface. Herculon will be their base of operations! And Rocky will take the mission! Agar tunes the astrophone through the frequincies until he overhears Secretary Drake talking to Herculon about the mission. Agar heads to Herculon and lands. Agar disguises himself as Dr. Norax from Venus, and gains an audience to speak to Juliandra, ruler of Herculon. Agar says he wants to study Circo and asks permission to study and work on Herculon. Juliandra cheerfully offers all her labs to his disposal. Secretary Drake and Rocky interrogate Dorton, but he knows little. A disaster call comes in! Observation point reports wood crumbling and fires breaking out! It's Circo's rays having an affect! Earth's moon is starting to move out of shield range! Will they succeed in time? Stay tuned! Chapter III The radioactive Circonian force starts to reach Earth sooner than expected - but the moon still protects most of the Earth. On C-day, every man, woman, and child on Earth will have a small hand mirror, and along with the larger industrial mirrors, will reflect the dangerous energy back to Circo where it belongs! If the magnets and the mirrors are syncronized, the process should stop the energy eruptions on Circo once and for all! As the Silver Moon prepars to go to Herculon for the magnetic spary mission, some of the wood in the observatory lab breaks down! Time is running out! Professor Mayberry says good bye to Rocky, and he and Biff blast off in the Silver Moon! On Herculon, the disguised Agar thanks Juliandra for all her kind help, and learns that Rocky Jones is on his way to Herculon. Assistant Shima reports to Juliandra that the equipment for Rocky Jones is ready, and Juliandra goes to inspect it. Shima and Agar talk, and she recognizes who he really is! Shima wants to rule Hurculon, and Agar is willing to deal... Biff contacts Herculon from the Silver Moon and reports their expected arrival time. The XV3 lands (presumably on time). Biff reports to Juliandra while Rocky loads the Silver Moon. Shima reports to Agar, saying that anything getting in the way of the reflected Circonian force will be destroyed! Agar plans to use that knowledge and the cold light device to destroy Rocky once and for all! Shima produces Noboro - the strongest man on Herculon - and pledges him to Agar's command! Rocky and Biff say so long to Herculon - and prepare for their most dangerous mission. Shima uses Noboro to kidnap Juliandra and use her to refuel Agar's MX7 ship. Secretary Drake contacts Herculon, but with Juiliandra and Shima gone, Bento answers that Rocky is on schedule. - C-DAY! - Rocky races to Circo. The energy haze blocks their viseograph view. Agar plans to have Juliandra contact Rocky in distress and lure Rocky over to the MX7. Rocky docks to help the distressed ship. Shima steps through the airlock to distract Rocky, followed by the hostage Juliandra, and Agar with his gun! Noboro backs up Agar! Shima picks up Rocky's gun. They all exchange threats. Then Rocky knocks Shima's weapon free, tosses Juliandra out of harms way, and smacks Agar a good one! Now it's Rocky and Noboro! Juilandra and Shima duke it out - but Shima wins. Noboro knocks out Rocky. And Agar takes out Biff! The Silver Moon is Agar and Shima's! C-Day - Zero Hour approaches! Rocky must drop the magnetic particals first and then get out of the way before Earth turns their reflective mirrors back on Circo! It is all carefully timed out as there is no time to waste - and distance is too far for the astrophone! Agar exits the cockpit of the Silver Moon, and knocks Biff out a second time - villain that he is! He leaves Juliandra with Rocky aboard the Silver Moon. Agar exits with a gloat. Biff helps Juliandra to a seat, and Rocky - behind schedule - heads for the cockpit to complete the mission! But Agar has completely distroyed the cockpit! They're sunk! They can go to Circo, but they can't turn! They won't be able to turn or back up - and the astrophone is out! They will be lost in the deadly Circonian force reflected back from Earth! Zero hour! Rocky drops the magnetic particals as planned. He now plans to alter one of the ship's defensive missiles, and put it out the airlock and fire it! If the missile does not detonate, it might be enough to turn the ship out of the path of the reflected Circonian energy! Rocky wrestles with the missile and the Silver Moon turns! Agar, aboard the MX7 gloats over his victory! Shima is anxious to return to Herculon and claim the throne, but Agar wants to head directly to Medina. Shima sics Noboro on Agar, who is shaken like a rag doll! But in his psychopathic rage, Noboro wrecks the ship's controls! As Rocky and Biff attempt to repair the Silver Moon's controls, they see on the visiogrph the MX7 heading directly between Earth and Circo! Directly into the path of the deadly energy! There is nothing they can do to help with the controls smashed on their own ship. Ironically, the distruction of the MX7 is proof that the operation was successful... Biff gets the astrophone working just as Secretary Drake contacts Rocky and reports that all is well on Earth! Rocky, Biff, and Juliandra head for Herculon, happy for a job well done! END. Gallery Cast * Richard Crane as Rocky Jones * Sally Mansfield as Vena Ray * Robert Lyden as Bobby * Charles Meredith as Secretary Drake * reginbald Sheffield as Professor Mayberry * James Lydon as Biff Cardosa * Ann Robinson as Juliandra * Carles Davis as Agar * Pamela Duncon as Shima * Cliff Feirre as Ranger Marshall * John Alvin as Dorton * Thor Johnson as Naboro Crew *Directed - Hollingsworth Morse *Director of Photography - Ernest Miller *Production Manager - Dick L'Estrange *Supervising Editor - Fred Maguire *Editor - Richard Brockway (part 1 and 3) *Editor - Gene Fowler Jr. (part 2) *Special Effects - Ira Anderson *Make up - Ernie Park *Ser Director - Rudy Butler *Photographic Effects - Jack R. Glass *Art Director - McClure Capps *Casting Director - Bill Tinsman *Sound - Jack Goodrich *Sound - Joel Moss *Script Supervisor - Hazel W. Hall *Teleplay - Marianne Moser and Francis Rosenwald *Technical Advisor - Dick Morgan *Technical Instruments - Loren Sackett *Assistant Director - Dick Moder *Costumes - Berman Costume Co. *Executive Producer - Guy V. Thayer, Jr. *Associate Producer - Arthur Pierson *Producer - Roland Reed *Original Music - Alexander Laszlo (uncredited) *Produced in 1954 by Roland Reed Productions Inc. and Space Ranger Enterprises Trivia *This three part episode was copywritten 1954. *The character of Agar was previously seen in "Forbidden Moon" but is now played by Charles Davis, who did a good job of capturing some of the previous Agar's mannerisms. Although one wonders how he was able to keep his Medinan uniform...? *If there is a dangerously high level of radiation, you can bet Agar will be there! *Professor Mayberry is more romantic and poetic than Professor Newton. As a result he adds a lot of drama to the series. *Herculon orbits planet Alpha 3, which shields it from the Circonian energy. *"New Ophiuchus" is mentioned in the radio waves Agar dials through! *The side airlock door wheel actually turns in this episode! *There is lots of empty space in C section to fight, considering they are supposed to have a huge load of magnetic particals to drop! *The three chapters that form this episode were edited together to form the movie, "The Magnetic Moon". I have not seen this movie released in any format. Category:Episode